K10 does not appreciate the way I draw her. So I thought I would post this picture from our wedding so you all can see how beautiful she is in real life (and what a poor artist I really am.) It’s my second favorite picture so far. I like how both of us are looking at different cameras, and smile fatigue is setting in.

My good buddy Justin Stewart recently posted a virtual tour of his office. At the end of it he asked that others do the same. This is for you, Justin, and anyone else who might care to actually see where I develop my nonsense.

This first photo is a broad shot of my tiny room, unadorned with any art work or fancy furniture. I think this photo gives you a good sense of the claustraphobic size of the room. You can also start to get a feel for the many distractions I keep in the room.

Next is a close up of my desk. That tiny space between the mouse and the monitor, where you see my phone, is where I draw. Distractions I see in this picture: 1. Ghandi’s Autobiography 2. CD spindal rack of blank CD’s for burning friends all the great music I find 3. Bills and paperwork that give me paralyzing anxiety. In the lower left you can see my printer/scanner on the floor.

Isn’t this rack awesome? I salvaged it from behind a Drug Store that was throwing it out. On it you’ll find comics, lots of comics. Do I need to say why this is a destraction? To the right stacked on the filing cabinet and fire safe is a record player that K10 bought me, but we haven’t set up yet. You can also see the corner of an original art page by Alan Davis in the lower right of the picture. This is leaning against 2 long comic boxes, what remains of my 27 long boxes. I sold the rest.

As we continue the tour we find my music collection. Well…most of the collection. The rest is on the computer. Also on this rack is the traveling sketchbook, a project I started where I mailed a sketchbook around the country. Next to the music is a toilet for cats.

Oh! The couch! K10 and I will sit here to watch TV on the internet, or read, or nap.

We have cats. I don’t know how, but one day we just had cats. They’re a distraction. Sinatra comes into the office to watch birds out the window and sunbathe. He kind of looks angry here.

Oh look, Meatball brought in his ball. He wants to play fetch.

And he won’t leave me alone until I throw the ball. It starts with this look, then there’s the meowing, then anything sharp on his body ends up in my flesh, at which point I have no choice but to throw the ball. This can go on for hours.

Well, there it is. Where I do what I do, whatever that is. Thanks for coming by.

Well, Hello! It’s been awhile. For those of you returning, and those of you just visiting, I used to use this site to post comic strips I had made and odd ideas I had. I managed to give updates for about 3 months before I stopped completely. Many people have commented that they miss the site and would like to see it come back.An explanation: I was unhappy with the site. There was no cohesion, no direction and I eventually lost motivation. Drawing became work. And so I ended the site and let it sit…until now. I recently came back to the site and destroyed it. Nothing was left. A clean slate.
For those who don’t know me personally I’m a social worker in Missouri. Specifically I work with children between the ages of 5 and 18 teaching them social skills, coping skills, anger management and more importantly teaching their parents parenting skills. My job requires me to go into people’s homes on a daily basis. I have seen some shit. Abuse, neglect, filth. I’m not really shocked or discomforted easily anymore. I’m painting a gloomy picture, but I really want to talk about the rewards of this job.
There’s a young man that I’ve been visiting for almost 3 years. I think we’ve both taught each other a lot. This young man has a difficult time with communicating emotion, thoughts and ideas. Yet I know he’s brilliant. This young man has been teaching me how to play the Pokemon card game, and during one of our battles I asked, “What would a Pokemon you designed look like?” He related every last detail of his Pokemon for the next 20 minutes. I eventually had to stop him and ask that he draw the creature for me. When he was finished he gave me the picture and I could instantly see the genius of this picture. It was beautiful in its simplicity. The young man’s high intelligence also shone through. The creature had 3 tails, one made of fire, one made of water and one made of wind. WIND! I’m not sure if the significance of this is apparent, but wind cannot be seen. Here was this child, who could not verbally express himself, drawing wind. The following week when I came out I brought a sketchbook I had made for the kid. The following week after that he had already filled it up with creatures and stories about them.
I’ve begun teaching the young man how to draw comics. We will sit each week for an hour or more passing back and forth the 6 panel sheets I’ve made for him. Creating silly stories or communicating ideas. It’s from these sessions that My Alter Ego was born. Creating comics again, with this kid, completely from scratch inspired me.
I’ve opened the site back up. The first strips to appear will be My Alter Ego, which I had created a description of but can’t figure out how viewers of the site can see it, so here is the synopsis below:This is a collection of comic strips that are more about exercising my art then content. I give myself about 10 minutes to create a 6-panel strip using nothing but pens. I create each comic as I go along and have no preconceived idea before beginning. The goal of these comics is to experiment with new ideas and techniques. Often silly and nonsensical.
There will be no set day for My Alter Ego to appear, but I will be creating them frequently.
However, look for a regular strip called Mythical Beast and Magical Creatures to appear some time in the coming year. This will be an ongoing strip that continues from week to week and a new strip will appear each week.
I plan to keep this site simple. I can’t guarantee motivation will continue, either, so please leave comments and let me know what you think.